USPBL Weekend Recap: Unicorns and Diamond Hoppers continue to roll

By
Alex Muller
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0
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Jimmy-Johns-Field

Check out a rundown of all the action from the United Shore Professional Baseball League this past weekend in Utica.

NOTE: All game recaps are of games listed on the USPBL official schedule. However, final standings at end of piece will not accurately reflect all compiled game recaps (with listed schedule), as the USPBL plays additional games throughout the week.

1Thursday, June 8 | Beavers 9, Woolly Mammoths 4

The Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers kicked off the USPBL weekend with their highest run output of the season, dropping a 9-spot and picking up a win over the Westside Woolly Mammoths.

Westside actually struck first, holding a 3-0 after three innings thanks to RBI hits from Jeff Smith and Riley Palmer. Both Smith and Palmer recorded a pair of hits on Thursday for the Mammoths.

The Beavers countered with two in the 4th on a two-run single from Gerard Hernandez, cutting the Mammoths’ lead to 3-2. Hernandez added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, part of a 7-run frame for Birmingham-Bloomfield. In all, six different players collected RBI for the Beavers.

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B-B starter Brian Bayliss Jr. turned in a quality start, allowing three earned over six innings, striking out five. The Beavers’ bullpen allowed just one run on two hits over the final three frames.

2Friday, June 9 | Diamond Hoppers 4, Beavers 1

Game two of the weekend ended up being a bit weather-shortened as the Beavers and Eastside Diamond Hoppers played just five innings of ball.

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3Saturday, June 10 | Unicorns 4, Woolly Mammoths 1

The Mammoths’ offense stayed relatively quiet once again, as it has for much of the season thus far, mustering just one run against the Utica Unicorns Saturday night at Jimmy John’s Field.

The Unicorns jumped out early, up 1-0 after two innings and 3-1 after four innings. All three runs for Utica through the first four innings were the responsibility of Nicco Lollio, for his two hits in the contest.

The lone run for Westside came on a sac fly from Alex Abbott in the top half of the third inning. Abbott did reach base safely on a base hit in his three official at-bats. The fourth insurance run for Utica came in the seventh, a fielder’s choice off the bat of Brandon Rawe.

Utica starter Donny Murray was terrific, going seven innings and allowing just the one run, striking out seven Mammoths’ hitters. It’s the second consecutive outing for Murray of going at least seven and yielding one run or fewer. In six starts this season, he now has a 2.40 ERA.

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4Sunday, June 11 | Unicorns 10, Diamond Hoppers 9

It was a wild and wacky game to close out the USPBL action Sunday afternoon, with plenty of scoring between the two more prolific offenses. And in walk-off fashion, the Unicorns take down Eastside.

Utica owned an 8-6 lead after just five innings of play. Both the Unicorns and Hoppers each traded 4-run innings during that span. And after three scoreless innings from both between the sixth and eighth innings, Eastside scored three in the ninth before Utica walked it off.

The hero? Nicco Lollio once more. Lollio clubbed a 2-run homer to give Utica the win. He pinch hit for Mike Rampone in that ninth inning. Rampone hit a solo shot of his own in the contest, one of his two hits in the game. Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle also hit a homer, a 2-run shot and two of his three RBI in the game.

Eastside got big days from John Menken and Nate Ferrell. The 4-5 duo for the Hoppers combined to go 5-for-8 with seven RBI and two runs scored. Eastside’s first five hitters combined for 12 of the team’s 15 hits in the game.

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5Updated USPBL Standings (Through June 11)

EAST DIVISION W L
Utica Unicorns 9 6
Eastside Diamond Hoppers 8 6
WEST DIVISION
Westside Woolly Mammoths 6 8
Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers 5 8

 

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